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Stormont MLAs say no to useless talking shop
2007-04-11 16:23:00 One small story from the Teddy Bear?s Head that I almost missed ? with the restoration of Stormont imminent, the British government is dead keen on restoring the Civic Forum. ?What?s the Civic Forum?? I hear the broad masses cry. This is a 60-member consultative body, appointed by the First and Deputy First Ministers, which makes the Free State Seanad look like a legislative powerhouse. Its job is to provide a space where peace process ?stakeholders? can have a say on Executive policy.So, who gets to be on the Forum? Well, in the first instance there are failed Assembly candidates, either influential old-timers who need appeasing or rising stars who are highly esteemed by their parties, but less so by the great unwashed. (In the latter category, one might want to look out for the SDLP?s Sharon ?Lovely Girl? Haughey or the DUP?s Christopher ?Milky Bar Kid? Stalford.) In addition, the community sector, alias the peace industry, is in there. The loyalist paramilitaries are in there, un...
Real life ever more closely resembles a Colin Bateman novel
2007-04-06 13:50:00 One of the advantages of covering the peace process is that quite often it manages to be GUBU in about five dimensions at once. Such is the case with this week?s most startling event, the big conference called to consider how the £1.2m public subvention to the UDA is going to be spent. Chaired by business honcho Sir George Quigley and attended by chief constable Sir Hugh Orde and the Catholic bishops as well as loyalist paramilitaries, a solemn discussion was held on how giving a big whack of public money to drug dealers, pimps and extortionists was going to turn them into facilitators for the peace process. Since most of the paramilitaries are part of the peace industry already, how this is going to work beats me.This was preceded by a meeting of foreign ambassadors in Dublin, which had been summoned by Bertie to talk about how the international community could help the UDA go legit. This raises the prospect of yet more windfalls for Uncle Andy and Big Mervyn ? unless the foreign g...
Norn Iron Hammer Spain After Freezing Against Iceland In Eur
2006-09-09 02:03:01 Lawrie Sanchez was reported to have been handed an ultimatum by the Irish Football Association (IFA) after defeat at Windsor Park at the hands of Iceland. However the manager worked his magic and with the same squad of players he has helped the nation to its second most monumental victory in a quarter of a century. Sanchez was at the helm in the last ?Great? victory, not that there are many, against England a year ago in World Cup qualifiers. David Healy was again the provider of the strikes that grabbed the glory, however this time the scalps were those of a star studded Spanish side. Healy twice levelled for the home side after they went behind to goals from Xabi and David Villa. His final strike on the stroke of 80 mins was enough to secure victory and a well earned three points; and send the Norn Iron faithful home happy full of songs of joy and happy memories compared to the boos they left with on Saturday. A poor run of results and Sanchez?s inability to interact with the med... |
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